


Applied Physics

by unbearable_lightness_of_ink



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Ice Skating, One Shot, this barely counts as shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-14
Updated: 2012-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26328127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unbearable_lightness_of_ink/pseuds/unbearable_lightness_of_ink
Summary: "Too complicated for you?""Of course not. It's all just applied physics and geometry, combined with motor skills and balance.""So you're afraid to fall."* * *Sometimes the team needs to bond over something less gruesome than murder. Unfortunately for Reid, sometimes that involves things like ice skating...
Relationships: Emily Prentiss/Spencer Reid
Kudos: 6





	Applied Physics

**Author's Note:**

> One of a handful of very old fics I'm (finally) moving over here. I've cleaned up the writing a little bit but made no content changes, so do with that what you will.
> 
> According to my original note, I did a Google for the stat in the first line, but I don't really vouch for its accuracy.

"Over twenty thousand people are hospitalized each year for ice-skating related injuries," Reid noted, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

The benches around the ice rink were just a few inches too short for him. He tucked gloved hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders against the cold air. He always seemed to get cold a little more easily than the rest of them. Prentiss figured it was due to his complete lack of extra body mass.

She glanced over to the ice. Hotch was skating backward slowly, pulling Jack with him. Morgan was tottering ridiculously while Garcia skated circles around him. Even Rossi was skating slowly around the outside edge of the rink. It was supposed to be a team thing - some down time together, to relax and forget about the case. Everyone was there except JJ, who had promised to bring Will and Henry. As if on cue, Prentiss' phone vibrated and she pulled it out of her pocket to read the message: _Henry's sick. I'll catch up with you all some other time._

Emily texted something suitably sympathetic and slid the phone into her pocket before looking back up at Reid incredulously. "You're afraid of ice skating?"

His eyebrows drew together uncomfortably. "I'm not afraid," he said a bit too defensively.

Garcia's voice, typically, cut through the general noise of the rink: "You break down doors, hot stuff - how hard can it be to balance on ice skates?"

Prentiss looked over to see Morgan dusting ice shavings off his rear. He was laughing, arms windmilling as his skates slid treacherously beneath him.

"Not afraid, huh?" Reid was stubborn, but so was she. She would get him onto that ice. She folded her arms skeptically. "Not afraid, but you won't even finish lacing those skates."

At least he was wearing skates. It had taken some five or ten minutes of Morgan's constant ribbing to get him even that far.

Reid shrugged. "I'd rather watch."

"I did it, Daddy!" Jack's voice rang out triumphantly. Hotch gave his son a high five, his face transformed by an oh-so-rare smile.

Prentiss raised an eyebrow meaningfully at the thin genius beside her. "Too complicated for you?"

"Of course not. It's all just applied physics and geometry, combined with motor skills and balance."

And she'd be willing to bet money that was why Reid wouldn't get on the ice. He had many strengths, but motor skills and balance were definitely not among them. She grinned. "So you're afraid to fall."

He shifted uncomfortably. "I prefer to engage in activities in which I can demonstrate at least a basic level of proficiency," he said stiffly, sounding for all the world like a professor delivering a lecture.

Morgan hit the ice again amidst Garcia's shouts of laughter and his own spluttering excuses. Prentiss jerked her head indicatively in his direction. "He isn't afraid of looking dumb," she pointed out.

Reid blinked. "He's Morgan. It's not something he has to worry about."

There was some truth to that statement, but she wasn't about to concede the point. "Come on, Reid. Give it five minutes." "I don't think - " She rolled her eyes and then mustered a threatening expression. She was fairly good at those; she'd learnt from the best. Few people could look as intimidating as Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss. "Reid, if you don't lace up those skates and get on the ice I will tell Morgan you want him to set you up with five different women between this weekend and next."

Morgan would do it, too. He liked to watch Reid squirm around girls from time to time.

Reid opened his mouth to answer. His eyes flicked across the rink to Morgan, and he shut his mouth and bent to lace his skates. "I don't want to skate, Emily." His voice drifted up, muffled, from between his knees.

She smirked. "Five minutes," she repeated firmly.

The skates accentuated his lanky height. He looked adorably awkward, long-fingered hands grasping at the rail as he clumped across to the gate. His first step onto the ice almost landed him on his back, and Prentiss stayed in the gate behind him till she was certain he wouldn't back out.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he muttered, sliding one foot forward tentatively, shoulders tense and torso wavering dangerously.

"You have to let go of the rail," she advised. "It throws off your balance." It was something she remembered her father saying when he'd taught her to skate, so very long ago - one of the few things she remembered him doing with her. Her mother had flatly refused to set foot on the ice - which, of course, had only cemented Emily's determination to succeed.

Reid's hand lifted gingerly from the rail, fingers fluttering like nervous butterflies looking for a place to land. His feet slid forward hesitantly, the glide of each blade stopping and starting as his muscles tried to control his momentum. Slowly his movements began to smooth out. Prentiss skated up beside him and smiled, absurdly pleased with herself as she matched her pace to his. It had been a long time, but her muscles remembered the motions easily. Reid skated in silence, face set in concentration, looking as if he were afraid speaking would send him sprawling across the ice.

"See?" she said after a bit. "It's not that hard."

He frowned at her. "How do you derive pleasure from this?"

She laughed. "Takes some practice, that's all."

Rossi skated by, a broad grin spreading across his face as he watched them. Reid lifted one hand to wave. The movement threw off his precarious balance. His torso twisted and he flailed frantically before one thin hand latched onto Prentiss' upper arm with enough force to almost send her to the ice. His fingers clung tight enough to bruise - not that she would let him know that. She braced herself and let him catch his balance. Morgan was waving and laughing from across the rink. Reid offered a tight smile in response as he started his feet moving again.

"This is crazy," he complained.

"Oh come on, Reid. We all needed a break after that last one." Children - those were always the worst cases. If she never had to see a six-year-old's mangled corpse again it would be too soon - but she would. It was her job. It was what she did, who she was. But it stuck with you, in your mind, where you couldn't scrub it off the way you could the dirt under your nails. And that was why they were here.

"Why couldn't we just watch a movie and eat popcorn?" he asked plaintively.

She laughed again. His feet were beginning to catch the rhythm of skating. They navigated the curve at the end of the rink carefully and without mishap. Garcia waved energetically as they approached, green-sequined gloves sparkling wildly. Morgan looked like he was getting the hang of it, a smug smirk crossing his face as he skated toward Reid without losing his balance.

"Thought you weren't gonna skate, Reid."

Reid glanced at Prentiss uneasily. "She - ah - convinced me."

Morgan looked curious but didn't ask.

As they continued around the rink Jack called something excitedly to Hotch and took off in their direction. Reid's expression changed briefly to one of terror as the six-year-old barreled toward him, but Hotch caught up just in time to divert Jack's path and prevent a collision. Prentiss laughed and Reid grinned shakily as Jack waved, his face all innocent delight.

She slowed as they neared the gate again and smiled up at him. "You're off the hook, Dr. Reid."

He frowned. "That was less than five minutes."

She shrugged. "Yeah; early release for good behaviour."

The familiar expression of confusion crossed his face - the one that told her he was pretty sure it was a joke, but didn't quite understand it. "I'll keep skating," he said after a minute.

Surprised, she barely remembered to move her feet as he started off again, movements tentative but determined. Then she grinned, gave a little shake of the head, and decided not to remind him that he still had his hand on her arm.


End file.
